


Suspicious Minds

by lightning_troubadour



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Gore, Pre-Canon, Stefano is really good at acting, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 03:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16359785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightning_troubadour/pseuds/lightning_troubadour
Summary: A serial killer is slashing up women left and right in Krimson City, and now a beautiful young model has been left headless in the killer's wake. Now, her younger sister is starting to develop a hunch about who could have possibly done this to her. Will Stefano Valentini be able to keep his cover? Or will young Clarisse Lewis learn the truth about her sister's dear friend?





	1. Murder in Krimson City Park

Clarisse Lewis thought the hardest day of her life had passed her by already, but she was proven dead wrong when she got a knock on the door on the night of September 22nd, 2011. It was about two in the morning, and Clarisse was staying up late, watching reruns of old sci-fi shows and waiting for her sister to come home. But Emily never knocked at the door, she had her keys. Or at least, she would have texted her instead if she was so drunk that she lost her keys, and one of her friends would have been accompanying her. However, when she got up off the couch in her tank top and pyjama pants, she got a sudden shock at the sight of two uniformed police officers at her door, one male, one female.

“Are you Clarisse Lewis?” The male officer asked with a professional tone.  
“Uh, yes, sir, I am,” she said, shifting her eyes uncomfortably. “What seems to be the problem, officer?” She didn't get it, had she done something wrong? The worst she's ever done was run a stop sign, but those were in worse days.  
“Ma’am, we’re gonna need you to come with us.” The male officer continued, “We need you to identify a body.”  
Her hazel eyes went wide with fear when he said that. “I'm sorry, like, a dead body?” She repeated.  
“Yes, ma’am, it's urgent,” the female officer butted in. They weren't here to incriminate her for anything, whose body would need identified?  
“I’ll get my coat,” she said, throwing on a lightweight jean jacket and a pair of boots over her pyjama pants, before grabbing her purse and locking the door behind her. Going with the officers was the easy part. The hard part was still to come.

When the police brought her into the morgue, she was instructed not to touch anything, especially the body, no matter what. She had only ever seen morgues on television, so to see one in real life was a bit rattling but not intimidating. That's when she saw the body on the table, and the coroner standing there by it, a short, dark haired woman with glasses and grey eyes rimmed with dark circles.   
“Now, miss, I must tell you right now that this body does not have its head,” the coroner said, cautioning her, “That’s why we needed to bring you in tonight.”  
“Okay,” she nodded, bracing herself. She felt sick to her stomach at this point. Who was going to be under there? Was it Emily? Was it their mother? Who was it? The coroner unzipped the bag, and revealed the headless corpse.  
Clarisse screamed. Right there, on the body’s bruised wrist, was the matching rose tattoo she had gotten with her sister after she was released from her time in the psychiatric ward. She knew immediately who it was, and broke down into tears.   
“Emily!” She wailed, “No, no, Emily!”   
The coroner placed a gloved hand on the girl’s shoulder and said, “Miss Lewis, I am so sorry,” before Clarisse howled like a feral animal, pushing the woman away from her. She had just lost her big sister, her world, her everything and everyone, she did not want anyone touching her and crying crocodile tears. The police officers came in and practically had to restrain her from clinging to her sister’s lifeless body, sobbing and screaming like a child ripped away from its mother. Before she knew it, she was in a hospital bed, being told to calm down because she was having a panic attack. She fell asleep after the nurse gave her something to calm her down. 

“Em...Emily…” was the first thing she muttered when she woke up. But Emily wasn't there. Instead, dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, was one of Emily’s closer friends, who had basically been family to her: Stefano Valentini.  
“Sh, hey, it's okay,” Stefano said, standing up to meet her, “Clarisse, it's me, everything’s alright.”  
“Where’s Emily?” She asked, in a daze, “What am I doing here? I want to go home.”  
“Clarisse,” Stefano said, taking her hands in his, “Clarisse, please be strong, they found Emily dead in the park.”   
It all came back to her now. Waiting up for her sister, the body, the utter pain it caused knowing that the only real family she had left was dead. “Oh my god,” she said, her stomach dropping, “I know, I remember now.”   
“I can't believe she's gone,” he said, shaking his head, the dark brown fringe that covered his missing left eye moving with it, “She was my muse, my friend…”  
Clarisse felt another wave of tears coming on as her throat choked up. “What am I gonna do now?” She asked, “Oh god, what am I gonna do?” She started to sob again, feeling sick from it all.   
Stefano placed his hand on her shoulder, rubbing small circles into her back and said, “Well, right now, the police want to talk to you. I already answered their questions, but you knew her better than anyone. You might be able to tell them who did this to her.”   
He was right. She knew it in her heart that right now was not the time to have her second panic attack in the past twenty four hours, now was the time to figure out who killed her sister. So, she did. She took a few deep breaths, and put her head in her hands. Stefano pulled her in for a hug, which she reciprocated, clinging onto him for dear life as he ran a hand through her artificial maroon hair. Besides her abusive junkie of a mom, he was all she had left.

As soon as Clarisse was discharged from the hospital and got her personal items back, police were already waiting for her. Stefano walked out with her, a protective arm around her lower back, and he turned to her. “You'd better go with them. You have my number, right?” He asked.  
“Yeah,” she said, “I’ll call you if I need anything.”   
Stefano only nodded in response and pulled her into a hug. It was the two of them now, almost completely alone in the world.  
Clarisse broke the hug first to go meet up with the officers, who had a lot of questions about whatever had gone on the night before.


	2. Interrogation

“So, Miss Lewis,” the detective, a dark haired man named Castellanos asked, “How long had you been living with your sister?”  
“Since about February, sir,” Clarisse said, a tissue in hand from all the crying she had done in the past few hours. “I was, uh,” she hesitated.  
“You were what?” he asked, voice gruff but not aggressive.  
“I was released from the psych ward then,” she said, “Our mom went to jail around the time I went in, so Em became my legal guardian. I just turned eighteen in March.”  
“And why were you admitted to a psych ward?” Detective Castellanos asked.  
“I attempted suicide, sir,” she said, “I had been hurting myself for a long time. Our mom did drugs and beat Em and I until we moved out, our dad died when I was thirteen.”  
“I see,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Is there anyone you can think of who would want to hurt Emily?”  
“Well, our mom,” she said, “She’s still in jail though, she won’t get out for a while.”  
“For what, exactly?” He asked.  
“She was convicted for drugs,” Clarisse said, embarrassed. The thought that this was who their mother was disgusted her.  
“I see. We talked to another friend of hers, Mr. Valentini,” Detective Castellanos began, “We were wondering how much you knew about him?”  
“Stefano?” Clarisse asked. “You guys don’t think he did it, did you? Stefano’s the sweetest guy I know!”  
“We aren’t accusing him of anything, Clarisse,” the dark-haired detective insisted, “We just are looking for a motive. It’s okay, really.”  
She nodded, her mop of shoulder-length red hair shaking with her. “He’s a good guy. Artsy type, like her. He’s been very kind to both of us. He helped me move into Emily’s place when I got out of the psych ward, and he liked to buy her stuff. I always thought he was into her, but Emily always thought he was gay or something. I don’t know, it’s not my business.”  
“So, you think Mr. Valentini had feelings for your sister?” he asked.  
“I mean, maybe,” she said, “I’ve seen him go out with other girls, though, so it’s probably nothing.”  
“So you don’t think he would be jealous if, let’s say, Emily got a boyfriend?” the detective continued.  
“No, not really,” she shrugged. “He didn’t really seem all that interested in her romantically. He just kind of, flirts, I guess.”  
“I see.” Detective Castellanos nodded. “We’ve been investigating some other murders in the area as well, so, please stay safe. We’ll contact you if anything major has been uncovered.”  
“Thanks, detective,” she said, trying to force herself to smile. “Am I good to go?”  
“Yep,” he nodded, “You have a ride home?”  
“Yes, sir,” she said, as she got up to leave, collecting her things. As she left the room, she dialed Stefano’s number on her cell phone, and asked him to come pick her up since she didn’t have a car of her own.

As she waited for Stefano in the lobby of the police station, her mind started to race. What would happen if this all got out into the papers? She was grateful to be going to cyber school in the first place to not deal with the jeering of students over the suicidal girl with the cokehead mom, but if this got out to the public, Emily’s career as a model would have been ruined. Clarisse remembered though, that since Emily was dead, that she didn’t need to worry about her career anymore. No one needed to know what kind of family Emily came from, she was an image of pure beauty and class. The last thing she needed was to be seen as the child of a druggie, taking care of her psycho sister. Even though Clarisse knew she had bigger things to worry about, her thought process was halted by the sensation of her phone vibrating in her jacket pocket.  
“ _Hey there, I’m here._ ” the text on the screen read from Stefano’s number.  
“ _Ok, I’ll be out soon, thanks again._ ” Clarisse typed her reply, as she got out and got into the familiar blue car.  
“They weren’t too hard on you, were they, _bambina_?” he asked, his voice low and calm.  
“No,” she shook her head and sighed, “God, I just want to go home.”  
“Yeah, I bet,” he said, as the two began to drive. “If you need anything, you can call me. You know that, right?”  
“Yeah,” Clarisse shrugged, “I just don’t want to bother you is all. I know you’re a really busy guy, being a big time photographer and all.”  
“I’m never too busy for my muse’s baby sister,” he said, “Never.”  
“You’re the best, you know that?,” she said, as she leaned against the window of the car and started to doze off.

 _Good_ , Stefano thought, _thank God she trusts me._ A smirk grew across his face as the girl slept, because he knew that it was all going to plan. His good friend act was the perfect alibi, who would ever suspect him, as sweet as he seemed toward the Lewis family? Little Clarisse had no idea who killed her sister, and if things went his way, it would stay that was for a very, very long time.


End file.
